Talk:Thermogenerator

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"Thermogenerator" is kind of an odd term. I don't think I've ever seen it before in English. If you do a google search on it, the majority of the scant 13,000 uses are by Germans (compare to 2.3 million for "thermoelectric"), so I think it's fair to say that this may not be a very apt headword for the English-language wikipedia.

The second sentence states that it's specifically a Seebeck-effect heat engine, but those are usually called "thermoelectrics." Most commonly, the more generic device for extracting power of any type from heat is known as a "heat engine." If "thermogenerator" means anything in English, and I don't think it does in any widely accepted sense, I think it would have to mean a generic heat engine that produces electricity rather than specifically a TE generator, because of course we already have a whole different word for that. Also, TE devices aren't really considered "current sources" in the conventional sense either. Usually, if something is called a "voltage source" that implies controlled voltage with the current determined by load, and "current source" implies the current is controlled and the voltage determined by load. It goes without saying that any electrical power source outputs both current and voltage; otherwise it wouldn't produce any power at all. So by conventional usage, TEs are better regarded as voltage sources (voltage determined by the Seebeck coefficient and temperature) than current sources. If you don't believe me, I'll be happy to whip out my unusually real and verifiable PhD in electrical engineering, or just point out the wikipedia current source article.

At any rate, I would recommend merging this into thermoelectricity or one of the other related articles, if not deleting it entirely, since the content is very sparse, not particularly accurate, and full of language errors. Tarchon 21:16, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

IMHO "thermoelectric generator" (compare e.g. radioisotope thermoelectric generator) would be the appropriate term. "Thermoelectric" alone is more general and may stand both for a cooling device (Peltier cooler) or a thermoelectric power generator. --84.159.109.143 (non-native/german speaking occasional wikipedia user)

Yeah, if we were creating a new headword, "thermoelectric generator" would be a better way to go, but I'm more talking about why this article shouldn't be called what it's called and why it probably shouldn't be here at all. As it is, the thermoelectric effect article seems to do a good job of covering cooling and generation together (which is the usual textbook approach too). Really, I think "Seebeck effect generator" would be the most accurate term for this particular article as it stands now. Tarchon 21:48, 21 March 2007 (UTC)